5 Surprising Reasons That Blow Up Your Renovation Budget

About 42% of renovators this year went over budget. Here are the reasons why...

According to the most recent Houzz Australia survey, 42% of the homeowners who renovated between 2015 and 2017 went over their renovation budget. At the same time, only one in five renovators completed their project under their initial budget (this is where we want to be).

💸 The designer or builder discovered an unexpected construction-related issue.

Once you realise that your project is over budget (or is going to be), you have to make a few adjustments and sacrifices.

Some are easy while some are hard to make.

Here are the things that you can do:

The easy way out

🗸 Switch to affordable materials and fittings.

The best way to cut costs is to return the expensive items to the supplier and replace them with ones that look similar, as durable, but cheaper. For example, instead of using a marble slab as your kitchen benchtop and splashback, go for an engineered Quartz or sintered stones. Choose a white variant with grey veins, so it looks like precious marble. Plus, these marble alternatives aren’t porous like the original material. These hold up well under high temperatures too.There are a wide variety of building materials out there. Be on the lookout for stylish yet affordable building materials. They are worth every dollar!

🗸 Get multiple quotes for the same materials

It’s easy to get all the building materials you need from one supplier. Man oh, man! It saves you a lot of time and energy. You don’t have to inquire to multiple stores so you can piece together your new kitchen (or bathroom).But, you might miss out on the deals that you can find from other stores. We always tell our clients to get a second or third quote for the same items from many suppliers. We even help negotiate, so you get the best deals. (Architects can do that!). There are chances that firms have acquired building materials from them before. Repeat clients get the best deals from suppliers.

🗸 Remove the non-essentials

You have priorities in every renovation project. At the same time, you want to add a few features and fittings that make the place more attractive. These features aren’t necessary, but you want them to give your place a ‘wow’ factor.

If you want to cut costs, be prepared to let go of these details and items. You can have them later after you finish the project.